“Tonight I got home from football practice and Coach O called me and told me that he and Coach Kiffin talked, and that the entire staff wanted to grant me a scholarship, regardless of if I graduate early or not.“I was all fired up and told him that I want to be a Trojan.”

Burks, who also had offers from Stanford, Duke and San Diego State among others, picked USC because of the coaching staff and the chance to stay local.

“I fell in love with the coaching staff,” he said. “They are all just great people and really good coaches. I love the way that they run things.

I like this pick-up because my theory on recruiting is you get the best results when you pit your elite 5 & 4 star players with tough/hungry 3-star players in each class to create a competitive environment. Charles is the perfect example of a player who might not have the ideal size or elite talent but will overachieve through his work-ethic and attitude. Having players like that make the team better. This brings me back to the old days when we recruited overachievers like Mike Patterson, Ryan Kalil, Fili Moala, Josh Pinkard, etc.

December 16, 2009

Terrible news for Pink who flirted with the NFL draft last season but decided to come back to shift from the corner spot to his natural position of Free Safety in hopes of improving his draft stock. The shift never happened due to Shareece Wright being ruled academically ineligible at the start of the season, which kept Josh at corner.

Josh has already had 2 torn ACL injuries at SC, the 1st against Arkansas in '06 in the season opener and the 2nd during '07 Fall camp after a year of rehabbing. This latest one will likely be a major setback for Pink's pro career since it will raise automatic red flags with teams.

To add insult-to-injury, the injury occurred on the last passing play of the last regular season game and Pink, who was playing press man coverage, got beat for the game-winning TD. The man has no luck.

Wish him the best. Hope he keeps strong and works his way to the league.

September 01, 2009

"Shareece didn't get it done," Coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "He didn't get the GPA he needed to get."

Wright, a redshirt junior, sat out last season with a neck injury. He had been projected as a starter. That job will now go to Josh Pinkard, who will move over from safety.

Very disappointing news. Shareece, who sat out most of last season with a neck injury, was poised to have a big season. He's been our best overall corner (perfect compliment to Kevin Thomas who's more of a straight cover corner) in his ability to play tough in bump-and-run and make plays in the flats.

Shareece's academic troubles go as far back as his days at Colton HS. During his recruitment, the coaches slow played his offer because there were questions about whether he would qualify academically. Disappointing to see his academic troubles resurrect in what many expected to be his breakout year.

If there is a silver lining here, Shareece will likely (although it's no lock) come back for his final year at SC. It would make sense since his stock will inevitably drop and the questions of whether his neck injury can withstand a season of football will linger.

From a depth standpoint, thankfully, the defensive backfield is the deepest squad on the team; an area where we go a legit 3-deep. The starting line-up will be Kevin Thomas who'll remain the main cover guy, Josh Pinkard will move to the opposite CB spot from FS, Will Harris will play SS, and Taylor Mays will move back to his original position at FS.

In reserves, you got T.J. Bryant who can step into the starting spot immediately, Marshall Jones and Brian Baucham who are also game-ready, and the freshmen duo of Torin Harris and Byron Moore Jr. who exceeded all expectations during Fall camp.

This group is still tops in the Pac-10, but nationally, you have to give the full nod to Florida now with Janoris and Joe Haden as better cover guys and Will Hill and Major Wright as equally impressive as a group compared to Taylor and Will.

February 07, 2009

Jawanza Starling faxed over his letter-of-intent on Thursday morning. This is the 2nd year in a row USC will pick up a recruit from Lincoln HS in Tallahassee, FL (FSU pipline). There were thoughts last year, after we picked up T.J. Bryant, that Starling would be a prospect that the coaches keep an eye on; nice to see that fulfill over a course of a year. I love seeing the inroads being made into the state of Florida.

Starling is a big-time get for SC since we will have a mass exodus in the secondary in 2010 similar to what we saw with the linebackers this year. Jawanza is a nasty hitter with great closing speed and he's going to fit nicely alongside Drew McAllister, who looked very good in limited minutes this year.

USC also picked up LOIs from Simione Vehikite and Hebron Fangupo. I haven't seen Simione play but from what I've read he's going to play the hybrid FB role behind Stanley Havili.

Hebron is another big-time get and candidate to get early PT. There is a reason why he was rated the #2 player and #1 DT in the JC Top 100 - this guy is simply huge. He should be key in clogging up the middle next season. Last year we were a little light at NT, although Jurrell Casey stepped in and looked solid as a freshman; Hebron will split time with Jurrell and Christian Tupou.

Saving the best for last, Josh Pinkard received his 6th year of eligibility from the NCAA after injuring his knee two years in a row, which means he will forego entering the NFL draft. Josh looked solid last season and more importantly stayed healthy.

Josh will move back to his original position at FS. This means our starting 4 next season will be Pink, Mays, Wright, and KeTo putting our secondary at the top of the list in the Pac-10.

I love how this secondary perfectly compliment each other. KeTo will be the pure cover corner lining up against faster receivers while Shareece will make plays in the flats and blitz from the blind-side; Pink will make the natural transition back to the center field role while Taylor will essentially play a hybrid position of SS/4th LB taking away the corners.

Other Recruiting News

With Starling, Fangupo, and Vehikite signing, Chris Metcalf is the only commit left from the '09 class unsigned. I was surprised that Chris didn't pull a Michael Bumpus from '04 and jump ship after seeing us pull in our DB class.

He has academic issues which is the current hold-up, but I won't be surprised if Chris has a change of heart about coming to SC. With Moore, Hall, McDonald, and Starling coming in, Chris will have a hard time getting any PT.

---

With 3 scholarships remaining, SC is still on the radar for Bryce Brown and Orson Charles. Bryce (top-rated RB from Kansas) was by far and away the best player at the Army All-American practices/game. (I'm still perplexed as to how Tajh Boyd earned co-MVP honors with Bryce). Miami is still the favorite in this race with his brother Arthur currently enrolled there, although there have been rumors of Arthur looking to transfer, but SC is still definitely in the running.

Bryce has gone on record saying he wants to be used like Reggie Bush, so it's no surprise that he'll take an official visit to Tennessee next week and then likely SC afterwards. I've seen a lot of Bryce and he reminds me of a cross between Reggie and Jonathan Stewart; he's compact and physically imposing like Jonathan but has great explosion out of his cuts like Reggie. After the Army AA game, he was without question the #1 player in the nation in my mind; if he came to SC, he would overtake Matty B. as the gem of the class IMO.

As for Orson Charles, TE hasn't been a big priority in this class with Blake Ayles looking like a future 1st round pick. Orson showed nice catching ability at the Army All-American practices/game, but with SC being the early favorite for Christian Thomas next year, and again TE being a non-priority, I'm a little ambivalent in this situation.

The list above is just ridiculous. Every player on there (minus David Buehler) has a shot at being a 1st day pick. Digging deeper, you have 5 potential 1st rounders in Mark, Cush, Rey, Clay, and Fili plus three legitimate sleeper picks in Kevin Ellison, Kaluka Maiava, and Cary Harris. Both PT and Kyle Moore can be solid contributors if placed in the right situations; Kyle was actually a surprise performer at the Senior Bowl.

As for Josh Pinkard, he's made his intentions clear that he'll return for his 6th year if he is granted eligilibity by the NCAA. If Josh comes back, he'll likely start in the FS role alongside Taylor Mays who is looking to play closer to the line. In Nickle packages, we'd see Josh slide over and Will Harris step in. Considering Josh was once one of our more talented players on defense, he can definitely boost his draft stock with a solid injury-free season.

February 19, 2008

This off-season Pinkard has continued his daily rehab schedule and has started participating in the Trojans 6 a.m. workout sessions with Coach Carlisle. He is very encouraged with the progress that he has made and is looking forward to returning to mix this spring.

“It’s coming along quite well. I have started running a little bit and working out with the team now. I have a lot of stability back and everything so it’s going really good,” Pinkard said about his rehab. “I think I will be pretty ready to go for spring but I probably won’t be doing too much.”

I still remember watching Josh in the Shrine All-Star game and marveling at his size and athleticism. Hopefully he can come back in full form and fulfill all the potential he had before the knee injuries.

September 11, 2007

USC's secondary was dealt a potentially critical blow Monday when
cornerback Josh Pinkard was believed to have torn ligaments in his
knee, according to sources.

Officially, USC coach Pete Carroll said Pinkard was out for the Nebraska game and would need more examination by team doctors.

"There's more in there than what we thought," Carroll said.

But
sources said Pinkard tore ligaments in his left knee, the opposite knee
he tore ligaments in last season. Pinkard redshirted last year, so this
injury would be costly because he would have just one year of
eligibility remaining.

August 23, 2007

Watched the scrimmage today and these are the things that jumped out at me:

Best Player: Stafon Johnson

I was going to say a tie between Stafon and Chauncey, but I really liked the way Stafon hit the holes. When Stafon scored his 2nd TD, you saw a little bit of everything: setting up a block, nice cut/burst, and great vision. Credit to C.J. Gable for his performance last season, but in my mind, Stafon is clearly the #2 tailback.

Biggest Surprise: Brandon Carswell

Ran very nice routes and showed great hands on a few catches.

Biggest Disappointment: Patrick Turner, Fred Davis, and JDB

Patrick Turner was nonexistent the entire scrimmage. I saw him suited up and on the field, but I don't recall him being in any play.

Fred Davis dropped a few balls that hit him square in the chest. To me that's disappointing considering he's an All-American candidate and starting senior.

I know Coach Carroll praised JDB's performance and his stats look good on paper, but his incompletions were all balls that could have been intercepted. He had one pass where he nearly the WR/TE in the back. He rushed another pass to Anthony McCoy. He forced a throw on a post route to David Ausberry that would have been intercepted by an above-average CB. Am I saying JDB is a bad QB? No, but I still think he's an average QB when pass protection is anything less than par.

Play of the Game: Allen Bradford's 30 Yard Run

Yeah, I know Stafon's run where he sped down the sideline and cutback to the middle was exciting, and I also know Vidal's TD catch where he had to readjust and make a leaping grab was great as well, but none of them came against the 1st team defense. The way Allen made Rey miss in the backfield and then turned it up a gear and sped past Kevin Ellison for a 30 yard gain was outstanding.

Overlooked Play of the Game: Taylor Mays closing the gap on Allen Bradford

I've seen no mention of this play. Allen took the handoff going
left and made a great cut in the opposite direction that literally
opened up an entire side of the field. As he sped past the outside DE/LB, Taylor Mays came racing in, cut the angle, and took Allen down. I think
Allen gained less than 10 yards on that play, but it should have been a 15+ yard run.

Most Embarrassing Play of the Game: Ronald Johnson's Kick Return

So RoJo hesitates and drops the ball but luckily it doesn't get away from him. He then runs laterally and shows nice burst up the middle and towards the sideline. All that stood before RoJo and the end zone was Joe Houston and Thomas Williams (same team). Instead of racing away from Joe by continuing up the sideline, he decides to cut back towards the middle of the field, which confuses Thomas Williams causing him to run right by Joe and he ends up being tackled. If you didn't know already, Joe Houston is a KICKER.

Straight Beastin': Sedrick Ellis

Did his usual job of clogging the middle, but what really
impressed me was his ability to run down Allen Bradford and prevent him
from turning up field. You could see the two jawing at each other from
the several run-ins.

Other Random Thoughts:

Desmond Reed should be the punt returner.

I'm not sold on Vincent Joseph being the kick returner. Yes, he averaged 20+ yards on his returns, but he also made several bad decisions (e.g. choosing to try and leap frog Cary Harris and nearly coughing up the ball in the process).

Shareece Wright would have had the hit of the day, if he was allowed to hit the QB.

At the moment, I think Josh Pinkard deserves to start over Taylor Mays. He showed great coverage one-on-one.

Overall, I came away impressed with the team. I don't think we'll be as dominant as some people are claiming, but we are definitely NC caliber.

May 30, 2007

USC safety Josh Pinkard was arrested this month on suspicion of driving
under the influence, Coach Pete Carroll confirmed Tuesday.

Pinkard, a junior from Oxnard, was arrested May 18 at 3:44 a.m. after a
California Highway Patrol officer noticed a car swerving as it traveled
from the eastbound Pomona Freeway to the northbound Long Beach Freeway,
CHP spokesman Bill Preciado said.

Pinkard, 21, gave a breath sample after he was stopped and another
after he was taken to the CHP's East Los Angeles station, according to
Preciado. The CHP report identified Pinkard as a USC student, though
not a football player.